What do you get when you combine low humidity, little to no rain, strong winds and warm weather?

A recipe for potential disaster, or at least an increase in grass and wildfires throughout the Arkansas River Valley.

Pope County fire departments have already responded to 27 grass or brush fires during the month of May — a substantial increase from the four that occurred during May 2011.

The Russellville Fire Department responded to five grass fires that occurred within the city limits during May, four this week.

There have been 11 grass or wildfires in Yell County during May, including one involving hay bales and one fire in Plainview that destroyed a shed.

“We are drier than normal,” Russellville Fire Marshal Richard Setian said. “We’re seeing an above-normal number of grass fires for this time of year. There has been nothing significant as far as property damage, though.”

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), residents can expect temperatures in the 90s throughout the weekend and more of the same dry weather until a high pressure moves in toward the first weekend in June.

Lance Pyle, a meteorologist with the North Little Rock office of the NWS, said humidity levels below 30 percent, dry temperatures and strong winds are a recipe for wildfires.

While Pope, Johnson and Yell counties are currently not under burn bans, the three neighboring counties of Van Buren, Conway and Perry are.

Sheila Doughty, Public Information Officer for the Arkansas Forestry Commission FireWise program, suggested residents be aware of burning rules in their communities, pay close attention to the weather and take the necessary precautions before having a “controlled” burn.

“The two top causes of wildfires are arson and debris burns,” Doughty said. “When it is hot, dry and we have low humidity, people need to pay particular attention when they are doing things that could cause a fire like cooking outdoors or mowing their yard because sparks from the lawn mower could cause a grass fire.”

Doughty said there are typically two fire seasons in Arkansas, one in that runs from January through April and then one from July through September.

The AFC responded to 51 wildfires during April, which is below its 10-year average. May, on the other hand, has been the exact opposite.

“We are well above our 10-year average in May,” Doughty said. “We’ve responded to 61 wildfires burning about 476 acres so far in May.”

The 10-year average for May is between 20 and 30 wildfires which typically burn between 150 to 200 acres.

Permits can now be obtained online at www.russellville.org.

Visit www.arkfireinfo.org for a complete listing of counties under a burn ban.